Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas Grand Prix Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life